The CEO of a $55 billion conglomerate explains why the Japanese concept of 'kosoryoku' is so important in the AI age

Sumitomo Corporation CEO Shingo Ueno says AI can analyze the past, but humans should still envision the future. Bloomberg/Getty Images Sumitomo CEO Shingo Ueno believes 'kosoryoku' is a key skill in business. The term translates as 'the ability to envision futures that do not yet exist'. Ueno says AI can be a helpful research tool, but cannot yet conceptualize the future well. A little-known Japanese term about imagining the future helps explain both the role — and the limits — of AI in the workplace, according to the CEO of one of the country's largest conglomerates. Speaking to Business Insider in early September, Shingo Ueno, the head of Sumitomo Corporation, a Japanese multi-industry powerhouse with a market capitalization of around $55 billion, said that AI is a powerful research tool but lacks a crucial human capability: kosoryoku.